Flocking to Heviz

A woman floats in the water in the western Hungarian spa town of Heviz.

The town is not far from a former Soviet military airport where MIG fighter jets landed for decades when Hungary was under Soviet rule. Now, however, it is receiving plane-loads of Russian tourists instead. Locals have welcomed the wave of visitors, saying they have brought money and jobs during a deep economic downturn.

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21 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

A couple walks through a park in Heviz, a spa town with a population of 5,000. It recorded more than one million guest nights last year, making it the second most visited destination in Hungary after the capital Budapest.

21 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Swimsuits are displayed in a shop window in the town, which benefits from two charter flights that come every Sunday from Moscow to nearby Sarmellek, where a derelict Soviet air base has been converted into a small commercial airport.

20 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

A woman leans back and enjoys the sun at Heviz's thermal spa.

20 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Others swim in the water.

20 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

A Hungarian man receives a mud treatment in the spa town.

21 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Men's suits hang at a luxury clothes shop in Heviz, where businesses have welcomed Russian visitors, many of whom are willing and able to spend big.

21 Apr 2013. HEVIZ, Hungary. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Shop owner Agnes Kanizsai adjusts a dress at a clothes store. She has seen lots of demand at the high end of the market: "It has happened many times that we dressed up (a lady) and we wanted to put beautiful ... jewellery on her neck and she said she would only wear diamonds."